Denmark’s reliable and flexible funding to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, continues to enable rapid responses to the world’s most severe crises, ensuring that people forced to flee can be reached when they need it the most.
After their house was hit in shelling, Vira and Mykola (both 75) were supported by UNHCR, through local NGO partner Caritas, enabling them buy materials and hire professionals to help them rebuild their house. © UNHCR/Elisabeth Arnsdorf Haslund
With more than 122.6 million forcibly displaced globally due to war, persecution, conflict, and human rights violations, UNHCR’s work has never been more important. Predictable and flexible funding remains critical in an unpredictable world, where crises can emerge at any moment.
Denmark’s Global Emergency Reserve, which is funding allocated in emergencies, allows UNHCR to respond to people’s urgent needs, where and when they need it most, saving lives, restoring dignity, and providing essential protecting to those forced to flee their homes in emergencies, such as in Ukraine, DRC, and the Sahel region.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has forced over 6.7 million Ukrainians to flee their country. In addition, more than 3.7 million are internally displaced within Ukraine, while 12.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Large-scale Russian aerial attacks continue to pose a risk to the safety of millions of Ukrainians, as well as damage and disrupt the access to gas, electricity, and fuel.
Thanks to materials provided by UNHCR’s partner Rokada, Nataliia, 83, is now repairing her apartment with her neighbours. © Rokada/Anastasiia Sokol
In Ukraine, UNHCR and partners operate transit centres for evacuees from the frontlines. With partners, UNHCR is also providing critical support, including blankets, food, emergency cash assistance, and psychosocial support, to individuals and families who have fled, often with little more than the clothes on their back. UNHCR supports those who are able to return home and has provided 108,000 individuals with emergency shelter kits to facilitate quick repairs to damaged homes.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fighting between multiple non-state armed groups and inter-community conflicts, predominantly observed in the eastern provinces, has been a driving factor behind displacement. After fighting erupted in late January 2025, security and humanitarian conditions in the eastern regions of South and North Kivu have worsened rapidly, with civilian casualties, mass displacement, and human rights abuses. In January, over 6.7 million people were already internally displaced. Furthermore, the DRC hosts over half a million refugees and asylum-seekers. Most refugees are from the Central African Republic, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Burundi. Nearly all refugees in the DRC have been in the country for five years or more.
Despite the challenges to humanitarian access in eastern DRC, UNHCR is assisting those in urgent need. In South Kivu, North Kivu, Maniema, and Tanganyika provinces, UNHCR is delivering life-saving protection and assistance to 275,000 internally displaced persons within DRC. UNHCR also provides them with shelter, cash assistance for local construction and rent, as well as essential supplies such as household items and dignity kits. Further, UNHCR offers tailored and personal support to survivors of sexual violence and other human rights abuses, including psychosocial support.
Manu Malitano, 40, helps build an eco-friendly brick house with UNHCR support at the Telega displacement site. © UNHCR/Guerchom Ndebo
The central Sahel region, composed of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, affecting more than 3 million internally displaced people and over 2 million refugees and asylum-seekers. The region has suffered from repeated turmoil, intense and expanding armed conflict, extreme poverty, and persistent human rights violations. The crisis in the Sahel is further exacerbated by climate change, which is intensifying tensions over resources, subsequently fuelling conflict and displacement.
Responding to extreme weather events and flooding in Burkina Faso, UNHCR provides shelter repair kits and core relief items to displaced populations during the rainy season. In Mali, UNHCR, together with the government, is supporting emergency water drainage from flooded areas and providing essential relief items such as refugee housing units, tarpaulins, and blankets to those who have lost their homes. Environmental sustainability takes a central role in UNHCR’s interventions.
A Nigerien man harvesting tomatoes in a sustainable market garden that provides income for 400 refugee, internally displaced and host community families in Abala, a small town in southwestern Niger. © UNHCR/Helen Ngoh
So far in 2025, Denmark has contributed 98.8 million to UNHCR. Of this, USD 1.5 million is an allocation from the Emergency Reserve to the DR Congo situation. In 2024, Denmark contributed USD 118.3 million to UNHCR’s work, of which USD 37.8 million was unearmarked, enabling UNHCR to quickly scale up its response in new emergencies and maintain its activities in protracted and forgotten situations. Denmark provided swift and specific contributions to strengthen UNHCR’s response in acute crises and emergencies with USD 8.3 million to Ukraine, USD 1.5 million to the DRC, and USD 4.5 million to the situation in the Sahel region.
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